Primary school teachers from across Suffolk attended the sixth annual Primary PE and School Sport Conference on Wednesday 20th November, where they benefitted from motivational talks, informative workshops and inspirational stories helping them to consider how they could shape their schools physical activity offer.

Over 70 delegates had booked to attend this years conference. Attendees arrived from 9:30am at Trinity Park on Wedneday 20th November where they were welcomed with a drink and an information pack containing details of what they could expect from the day as well as research papers, physical activity guidelines and project outlines.

This year, the conference marketplace had 15 stall holders, including OneLife Suffolk, The Daily Mile, Skip 2B Fit, Vision Ed and many more, providing delegates with the opportunity to consider new resources, projects and equipment that could benefit the children in achieving a more active lifestyle in school.

Following the opening of the conference, delivered by John Clough, Director of Active Suffolk, delegates were lucky enough to hear from three, high profile speakers. The first key note speaker from the day was Montell Douglas, former Team GB track and field athlete and current Team GB bobsleigh team member, who now also works with the Youth Sport Trust as an athlete mentor. Having flown in from Germany where she had been training the day before, Montell took to the stage to speak about her journey into sport and how her school teachers supported her to get to where she is today.

"I stood out all of the time, but PE and sport in school taught me how to be proud of what I could achieve. It supported me to develop into the athlete I am now and I feel this is what today is about, it is an opportunity for development"

Following an inspirational talk from Montell, the delegates heard from Lee O'Neill from the ITFC Community Trust. Lee and his team are passionate about integrating into the local community to encourage young people in some of the most deprived parts of the county to increase physical activity levels, but also to feel a part of something.

Before splitting off into workshops, the last talk of the morning was delivered by Stuart Kay, Schools Director from Youth Sport Trust who started his talk by highlighting that on average, children spend less time outside than prisoners. This really brought it home to everyone in the room, just how little activity is sometimes carried out by our next generation.

Workshops throughout the day included those delivered by, Youth Sport Trust, Wells Hall Primary School, Inspire Suffolk, OneLife Suffolk, Teach Active, iMoves, Red Oak Primary and Suffolk MIND. All workshops touched on different topics, helping to engage delegates in practical discussions and activities, providing them with the tools required to enhance their current curriculum and consider how they can work to improve the health and well-being of the children.

The day was brought to a close following talks provided by the Daily Mile Foundation and Teach Active.

Already comments regarding the conference have been extremely positive and we are looking forward to planning for next years event. Watch this space for the 'save the date' for 2020.

"Really enjoyed the day- Fantastic organisation."

"Very enjoyable, informative and thought provoking conference. Which provided me with some excellent ideas to take back to my school. Lastly, an excellent opportunity to network with others."

"It was inspirational and I hope to be able to implement more active Maths and English, especially in Key Stage 2 when learning tends to become more sedimentary. The Daily Mile is something I think we will be undertaking as a school."